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Thursday, 6 July 2017

(NST) (Update) Tourism Tax: Govt mulls incentives for tour operators

KUALA LUMPUR: The government may introduce incentives to tour operators soon, to cushion their losses from group booking cancellations following the introduction of Tourism Tax (Ttx).

Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association (Mita) president Uzaidi Udanis said Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz has assured that special incentives would be given to inbound tour operators including those under Mita, Malaysian Tourism Council (MTC) and Malaysia Chinese Tourism Association (MCTA).

"The minister is aware of the situation faced by tour operators who have set their group booking contracts until March 31, 2018.

"He had given his assurance that there will be incentives given to the operators to offset cancellations of inbound group bookings into the country.

"But we still don't know what sort of incentives will be given," he said in a press conference today.

Mita secretary-general Adam Kamal said the government is expected to collect about RM2.7 million in Ttx from Chinese tourists alone from August 1 to year end.

He said by having the incentives, tour operators would not need to fork out their own money to honour their contracts ratified with overseas travel agencies.

"The contracts have been signed, so the incentives can come in any forms to lessen their (operators) costs."

The implementation of the TTx will begin on August 1 this year, as announced by the Customs Department on their website.